What you’ll learn from this interview:

 

• What Chris learned from a 15 year tenure at Microsoft, and his thoughts on working in corporate and startups
• How he helped grow Xero in Australia from 7 staff and 4,500 customers, to 270 staff and 320,000 paying customers in 5 years as Managing Director
• The 3 criteria he uses to assess potential startup investments

 

My guest today is Chris Ridd, he’s a business executive, investor and advisor with 30 years experience in the technology industry. After a long career with Microsoft spanning 15 years, he was appointed Managing Director for Xero in Australia to lead the expansion of Xero’s market share in Australia.

 

Under his leadership Xero grew in five years from 7 staff and 4,500 customers, to 270 staff and 320,000 paying customers.

 

Today Chris has taken his vast experience and applied it as an investor and advisor in a number of exciting Australian technology startups.

 

I wanted to bring Chris on the show to find out what he’s learned from such a wide ranging career working in challenging and high performance environments, how he thinks about investing and what’s next for him